With the reissue of the „Gagarin Cup“ final 2019, between champion CSKA Moscow and Avangard Omsk, the KHL started its 12th season. CSKA won this final series with a sweep and thus won the first title since the Soviet era. Both teams are also among the favorites this year for a new final participation. So it was arranged and before the game the „Gagarin Cup“ banner was pulled under the ceiling of the CSKA Arena. Avangard tried to be active from the start and also had more game play. The first goal of the season scored but CSKA. Andrei Svetlakov also had some luck with his deflected shot. Now there was the usual picture from the finals. CSKA controlled the game and Avangard did not really get the move. 122 seconds before the first break, there was a penalty against Maxim Mamin. This power-play, 38 seconds before the break, took advantage of Cody Franson’s 1: 1 equalizer from the blue line.

In the second period, the game became more intense, one reason was also the rather curious leadership goal of Omsk. In the 26th minute Maxim Chudinov fired from the neutral zone the puck in the direction of the CSKA goal. Thanks to a less than perfect CSKA goalie Lars Johansson, this led to the Avangard lead. CSKA had now proper pressure phases, whereby one or the other was sometimes over-combined. Avangard made it very difficult for CSKA, because especially the early attack bothered the title defender.

In the third period, the pressure of the hosts increased more and more. The Omsk defensive remained calm around goalkeeper Igor Bobkov. It was Cody Franson who, with his Emty-Net goal, fixed his victory over the defending champion. Omsk coach Bob Hartley was very proud of the team. „First away game, we always stayed calm and celebrated the first victory against the defending champion.“

Last year, CSKA beat Ak Bars Kazan and later became Gagarin Cup champion, which should be a good sign for the team from Omsk.